GSEE gives opinion on new draft bill on employment

Download article in original language : GR0012193FEL.DOC

In November 2000, the Greek General Confederation of Labour (GSEE) submitted to the Minister of Labour and Social Security its comments on the latter's draft bill on employment, which contains a number of measures reforming aspects of industrial relations such as overtime, working time flexibility and collective redundancies. GSEE is in favour of some of the reforms, but believes that many could have gone further.

In November 2000, the Minister of Labour and Social Security communicated to the employers' organisations, the trade unions and the Economic and Social Committee (OKE) a new draft bill on "regulations regarding employment and other provisions", following initial proposals issued earlier in the year (GR0007178F).The new draft bill, apart from provisions relating solely to employment issues, seeks to make changes to the existing legislative framework on industrial relations (GR0012192F). In particular, it provides for changes involving: overtime and "overtime exceeding maximum working hours"; working time arrangements; reduction of social insurance contributions; part-time workers' pay; and collective redundancies.

On 23 November, the Greek General Confederation of Labour (GSEE) submitted to the Minister its remarks and recommendations on the draft bill. GSEE's main points on the proposals on industrial relations and other controversial aspects are set out below.

Overtime exceeding maximum working hours

The draft bill contains a clause increasing pay for the first 120 hours of overtime exceeding maximum working hours each year to 150% of the normal hourly wage. GSEE believes that this measure is headed in a positive direction but that it is too limited and lacks the necessary boldness. In GSEE' s view, only if hourly pay were increased to 200% for such overtime would this result in the hoped-for cut in overtime hours worked and subsequent increase in employment.

Working time

The draft bill introduces a radical new form of working time flexibility arrangements, which involves a total break with the concept of daily working time and introduces calculation of the working week at 38 hours on average and the use of the annual number of hours worked as the basis for calculating working time. This provision creates problems of interpretation, says GSEE, as well as well-founded doubts as to whether it is in accordance with the International Labour Organisation's Convention No. 1 on hours of work (industry) (of 1919), which limits working hours in industrial companies to eight per day and 48 per week (ratified in Greece by Law 2269/20). Furthermore, the Greek legislation implementing the EU working time Directive (93/104/EC) sets a limit on the length of the working day, since employers are obliged to grant workers a minimum unbroken rest period of 12 out of every 24 hours, along with breaks (Presidential Decree 88/99).

According to GSEE, the draft bill's provisions on flexible working time arrangements cause problems of interpretation with regard to their scope, inasmuch as they expressly refer to enterprises implementing a standard 40-hour working week, whereas collective agreements and works rules set the standard working week at less than 40 hours in many enterprises and industries.

Social insurance contributions

The draft bill provides for a two percentage-point decrease in employers' contributions to the Social Insurance Foundation (IKA) for a period of 30 months (initially), subsidised by the state. GSEE believes that this will be effected at the expense of the social insurance system, because the flow of necessary resources is not ensured. Furthermore, it is doubtful whether there will be any positive effects in terms of combating unemployment. For GSEE, the measure is of a fragmentary nature, financing employers with funds from society as a whole and breaching the long-standing conviction regarding the need for regular payment of insurance contributions to the IKA.

Part-time workers' pay

GSEE considers an increase in part-time workers' pay to be imperative, because of the increased productivity provided by part-time workers. The 7.5% increase in hourly wages provided for by the draft bill is, however, regarded as unacceptably low and ineffective, as is the restriction of entitlement to this increase to people working fewer than four hours a day. Furthermore, GSEE states that there must also be provision for the social insurance coverage of people employed for under four hours a day, who must have similar conditions to those of part-timers employed for four hours or more per day.

Collective redundancies

One of the draft bill's most important clauses regards a change in the thresholds beyond which redundancies are considered to be collective redundancies. Whereas a collective redundancy is now defined as the redundancy of five workers for enterprises and operations employing 20-50 people, the threshold will in future be set at four workers for enterprises employing 20-200 people. Furthermore, these thresholds are now to be determined by the number of staff employed on the first day of the relevant month. GSEE is in complete opposition to this amendment, arguing that the supposed rationalisation of the thresholds will mean that redundancies will increase in practice, at a time when unemployment in Greece is rising. To support this view, GSEE states that:

• collective redundancies in enterprises employing fewer than 20 workers, where the legal provisions regarding collective redundancies do not apply, will remain uncontrolled. Such enterprises are in the majority;

• enterprises employing the current threshold of 50 workers will be able to dismiss 48 workers per year without falling under the legal provisions, instead of the current 12;

• the threshold for defining collective redundancies starts at 20% in enterprises employing fewer than 20 workers, and falls to 2% in enterprises employing 200 workers or more; and

• the legal provisions regarding collective redundancies do not entail prohibition of such redundancies. Enterprises are entitled to carry out collective redundancies without any restrictions on numbers or percentages, on the condition that they comply with the obligations regarding information and consultation of workers' representatives, and after control by the competent administrative authority.

Other issues

The draft bill introduces a pre-retirement monthly benefit for older workers. In GSEE' s view, the relevant clause needs to be reworded, so that the scheme is technically and economically feasible and meets its objective, which is the entry of mainly young people into the labour market and the retirement of people with 35 years of service. One of the GSEE' s main demands is retirement after 35 years' employment, regardless of age, so as to reduce unemployment. This demand has recently been met in part by the employers in the context of the joint management committee of the Account for Employment and Vocational Training (LAEK), which manages employers' and workers' contributions for employment and vocational training. It has been agreed initially that the LAEK will support spending by the IKA related to the early retirement of people employed in heavy and unhealthy jobs who have completed 35 years of service. This agreement was made with the LAEK' s economic resources in mind, providing for a scheme that can actually be implemented. Workers' and employers' representatives have offered, through the LAEK, to help implement this measure, which is aimed at making a contribution to addressing the problem of unemployment. On this basis, GSEE has called on the government to accept a rewording of the relevant clause of the draft bill along the above lines. In any event, says GSEE, retirement provisions should be made by the social insurance funds and the LAEK should provide economic support for such regulation.

The draft bill provides for an extra week of maternity leave after confinement and payment of the relevant benefit by the social insurance funds - a measure welcomed by GSEE.

A further provision of the draft bill relates to improving staffing levels at the Labour Inspectorate (SEPE). While GSEE accepts that a step is being taken in the right direction, it believes that - on the basis of current needs and in view of the situation in the labour market - this is not enough. That labour law must be implemented is for GSEE a basic position regarding the functioning of the labour market. Law 2639/1998 and the return of the labour inspectors to the control of the Ministry of Labour and Social Security (GR9807181F and GR9808185F) has created expectations regarding upgrading of the Labour Inspectorate, but now, two years after the law was passed, there have still been no practical results, it is claimed. According to announcements by the Ministry, fewer than half of the people required for adequate staffing of the new inspection service have been hired so far, and those that have been recruited have not been trained to carry out their tasks. At the same time, additional measures are needed to achieve effective control in the labour market. GSEE believes it necessary to add to the relevant article in the draft bill, to provide for:

• full and effective staffing of the SEPE with specialised personnel, to meet effectively the needs of the whole country by quantitatively and qualitatively upgrading the role of the Labour Inspectorate;

• guarantees of labour inspectors' independence in the face of any change in government or external influence, aimed at ensuring the irreproachability of actions for verification of complaints or ex officio interventions;

• legislative provision for effective cooperation of the SEPE with other public services and the competent trade union organisations;

• assigning investigative tasks and powers to the SEPE so that it can effectively carry out its work;

• an obligation on the employer or its representative to appear when called on to do so by an inspector, with provision for penal and administrative sanctions in the event that they refuse, and the possibility of forcing them to appear in cases of disruption of industrial peace for which the employer is liable; and

• provision of an allowance to reinforce labour inspectors' salaries, in recognition of the independence and vigilance necessary if they are to be prepared to intervene outside the normal working hours of the public services.

Commentary

The government's initial plans to reform the labour market, issued earlier in 2000, succeeded in rallying the trade union organisations in a united front of resistance for the first time in many years (GR0012190N). The plans also caused reservations among the employers' organisations, which did not wish to disrupt the equilibrium achieved with the unions through the "culture of dialogue" developed during the 1990s. As a result of this correlation of forces, many of GSEE' s positions are now contained in the November 2000 draft bill. Nevertheless, GSEE has expressed certain other views on the content of the draft bill, views which are based on the unions' fundamental positions and for which GSEE will need to bring additional pressure to bear in the future. (Eva Soumeli, INE/GSEE-ADEDY)